More twins born in tony suburban areas

• Tweet

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The high number of U.S. twins born in wealthy suburbs is based on older mothers and couples with money for expensive treatments, a fertility expert says.

Dr. Bradford Bopp of Midwest Fertility Specialists in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel said he is not surprised several Indianapolis suburbs have high numbers of twins.

Carmel High School has 17 sets of twins, while the Guinness World Record of 16 sets of twins in one high school is currently held by West Des Moines, Iowa; Park Ridge, Ill., near Chicago; and Westport, Conn., The Indianapolis Star reported.

He said the concentration of twins being born in tony suburban communities was much higher than those born in rural areas: for example, in 2010, the birth rate for mothers ages 35-39 was 55 per 1,000 births in Hamilton County; 48 per 1,000 in Boone County, but the smaller and more rural Morgan County, had a twin birth rate of 18.8 per 1,000 births, while the state of Indiana had a statewide average of 35 per 1,000, The Star reported.

Bopp said the suburban twin trend was a combination of women delaying child birth until their mid-to-late 30s and couples having the money to pay for infertility treatments costing $15,000 per treatment. Older mothers tend to have more twins, Bopp said.